Introduction to SWAN
SWAN Empower
SWAN CIC is a community based organisation set up by women from the Sikh
community from across the West Midlands to provide professional and therapeutic support to victims of domestic abuse, child sexual exploitation and grooming .
The SWAN CIC founders know, from their own community networks and through research that there is reluctance from the Sikh community to report abuse to the statutory agencies for support and justice. This is due to the community/family wanting to avoid shame, embarrassment and there is a lack of confidence that cultural sensitivities will be taken into account. Through our work, SWAN CIC has been able to ‘empower victims’ to understand that this type of negative cultural influence is misplaced and malign. SWAN CIC sees its main purpose as working with and empowering women and men by coaching, mentoring and inspiring them to become active citizens by contributing to society. We support victims to report and engage fully with the conventional routes to justice and support.
As well as known and trusted community members, SWAN CIC members aim to raise awareness of domestic violence and abuse and its impact on victims and their children in an innovative and creative way by working at the heart of these communities. This includes educational establishments, religious places of worship and community centres.
We have developed programmes that raise awareness of the problems and improve community cohesion by countering the negative side of ‘cultural influence’. These sessions are delivered to professionals and are also delivered in different languages for community members. In 2019 SWAN CIC secured a small grant with Lottery Awards for all fund, so we have been able to deliver to professional agencies, service providers and schools, free of charge.
